Talia Balsam

Talia Balsam is an American television and film actress, born in 1959 in New York City. She comes from an established actor's family which includes her parents, actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten, as well as well-known relatives actor Dick Van Patten, actress Pat Van Patten, and actor/director Tim Van Patten. Her acting ancestry is rooted in Russian Jewish, Italian, Dutch, and English backgrounds. Balsam started her career with a recurring role in the ABC sitcom Happy Days, and ever since then, she has made appearances in several successful shows including Dallas, Taxi, Hill Street Blues, Family Ties, The Larry Sanders Show, and Magnum P.I. In her cinematic journey, Balsam has played leading roles in films such as Crawlspace (1986) and In the Mood (1987), and made-for-television movies like Kent State (1981), Nadia (1984), and Consenting Adult (1985). She has kept an active career through the 1990's to 2000's, featuring in notable works like The Cake Eaters (2007), L.A. Doctors (1998–99) and Without a Trace (2003–04). She had a notable role on the AMC's period drama series Mad Men (2007-2014), the Showtime thriller Homeland (2012), and HBO's comedy series Divorce (2016-2019). Balsam was first married to the famous actor George Clooney in 1989 with whom she got divorced in 1993. Since 1998, she has been happily married to John Slattery, and they have a son together. As of 2015, Balsam was living with her family in SoHo, Manhattan.